Some more silliness on the way to Infinities... *grin*

*******************

The spectre has arrived

It was a rainy day, the Summer 2016 on the east coast of had been on vacation for weeks. But what did rain and clouds matter if you could just streak past them, right into the blue sky above?

The Taxi driver looked to his right, it did not happened that often this days that people looking for a transport into orbit from the US had armor and weapon that could have just come out of a scifi movie.

“Its really your first flight up to orbit?” he asked.

“Yes, had a few problems to get all the equipment together, Handwavium is hard to get on Earth these days. I couldn’t believe there are Trekkies and Star Wars Fen here, but no Mass Effect ones. Its one of the greatest games in history!” Shepard replied.

“Oh, we got our share of Mass Effect Fen last year, even if it took us some time to recognize them. A space station full of them to be exact.” the Taxi driver corrected him.

Shepard became visibly happy, that was much better than he had feared. “Wow, that’s great! I cannot await to meet them. I thought I would have to start it all alone. Maybe you can tell me where I can find them?”

The taxi driver grinned visibly. “That’s no problem. If I remember it right, their station Jenga is currently in orbit around Mars, they are friends with some of the Cybers at Marsbase Sara. Should not be difficult for you to get in touch with them.”

Shepard was to much occupied with dreaming about all the adventures he would have for wondering about the name of the space station.

“Oh, just one thing you might want to know. They are all catgirls!”

“Catgirls...” Shepards eyes seemed to bulge. “Wait, WHAT?”

Shepard just stared in shock at the taxi driver, he could not believe what he just had heard.

“Yes my friend, its true. There is a bunch of catgirls who teamed up in 2015 and founded their own company, ‘Catgirl Industries’. The started with random stuff, but today a lot of their tech can be traced either to the Tron movies or to the Mass Effect games. I heard they have invented the Element-Zero strain of Handwavium and still have a monopoly on it.”

Shepard just shook his head. “There are no catgirls in Mass Effect. There are lots of other races in the games, its not one of those ‘only humans with funny looking faces’ universes. But NO catgirls. How could this happen?” Something was going badly wrong here.

The man on the other seat chuckled. “Hey, this is Fenspace my boy. Anything can happen here. I have no clue about the ‘how’, but if you start asking questions like this, be prepared to become very frustrated soon.”

“Catgirls...” Shepard still tried to wrap his mind around the concept. “A full space station of them? And they are the Mass Effect faction up here? Whats about Mass Relays and Biotics?”

“I think you have to explain this to me. I have heard about the games, but relays sounds a little bit too antique for Fenspace. Some kind of mechanical computer? Not sure if a Mad have tried to build one. And whats Biotics?”

Shepard smiled. “No, not this kind of relays. Mass Relays are space stations which have a huge Element Zero core that can propel other ships nearly instantly across the galaxy to another connected Mass Relay. And Biotics... its about integrating small bits of Element Zero with the central nervous system of a humanoid to be able to create Mass Effect fields just by concentrating. Think about things like force fields or telekinesis. Just technology based.”

“Never heard about things like this, it seems our local variant of the Mass Effect Fen are still limited to other parts of the Fandom. But give them a few decades, we might see something like this. Catgirl Industries mostly works as a research institute and a base for crazy tinkerers. They create new waved goodies and prototypes, but licence much of their tech to other people for production.”

Shepard sighed again. Mass Effect Catgirls... that sounded crazy in his opinion. But it was better than nothing at all, he needed help.

----

Getting a Taxi to the moon was easy, but he had underestimated how large a real space city could be. Kandor wasn’t just large, it was huge... and full of people.

It took Shepard nearly a week to became even a bit familiar with this place. He booked a long guided tour and bought a map of the city, but he quickly recognized it would take years to see every street and corner.

‘And that’s just one of the Fen cities, there is a lot more to see up here. Good that computer games had much more limited maps, otherwise you would not be able to finish a single side-quest’ he thought. There hadn’t been that much data about Fen settlements available in the US, and most of them seemed to underestimate their size a lot.

After two days of walking around in Kandor City, he had visited Tranquility Base National Park and watched the place where Mankind had first visited another celestial body. He stand there for hours, thinking about how space travel and exploration had changed since them. He had dreamed about standing here since he was a small boy, still remembering his dad telling him when he had watched the first Moon Landing on TV.

But now he was here, he had made it.

Now it was time to get to the start of his first real quest.

He had bought a cheap waved Tablet PC, which had surprised him with instant speech recognition, free interwave access through the whole city and even a real holographic display! Now he was surfing some news pages to find more data about that catgirls.

Fenspace Interwave was even more crazy than the one he knew from the US. More chaotic, more... more dynamic. The Fen seemed to own a lot more computerpower than anyone on the ground, and without the RIAAs army of lawyers present to sue anyone stepping out of the line, they were quite creative how to use it.

America had second life... and it was quite okay. Fenspace had KoFen and other virtual reality spaces, and a lot of hackers and AIs to improve on them. Stepping into a simulation of a Lord of the Rings battle had been breathtaking, beyond anything he had seen at home before.

But the same facts that made the Interwave incredible made it also difficult to search for a new user. In the Internet you just asked Google or Wikipedia about something, and you could be pretty sure to get a good tip what was going on. Here you had a lot of small ‘data monitoring and indexing’ services, and each of them were keeping track of a part of the Interwave.

In the end someone hinted that he should go to the Blue Blazers internet page and use their search engine. He had heard about the Blazers in the news, when they had appeared after the latest earthquake in south Asia. Fox news had cried out against the ‘illegal meddling of Fens in Earth things’, but nobody sane had listened to them anyways. It was difficult to talk badly about a group of people helping to dig out victims from their collapsed buildings.

Digging through tons of interesting information about the end of the war against the Boskones he finally found some useful information about the ‘Mass Effect catgirls’.

Much of it were rumors and discussions about the crazy tech they were working on, but a few documents described visits on their space station Jenga. It turned out that their station contained the second largest group of Catgirls in Fenspace, just one of the asteroids contained more of them. Most of them were said to be victims of the war against the Boskonians. A free floating, ever changing complex of large steel boxes, where they built stuff. Unfortunately it seemed they never produced something larger than a small drone, except for the base itself. But with their modular base design, this would be possible to change quickly.

They would certainly see how important his mission was.

----

Getting from the Moon to Mars was just a short hop for a modern spaceship. Unfortunately for Sheppard was that he had no spaceship, so he decided to take a bus.

He used the five hour long trip to go over all the data he downloaded from the Interwave again. The story of the Boskone war kept his eyes fixed on the tablett, it was incredible how close the whole Fenspace community had come to being wiped out or conquered by some damned criminals. But it seemed that they managed to turn the tide just in time. Their own variant of the Spectres, the Trouble Shooters, and the forces of OGJ and Space Patrol had worked hard until they had cleaned out the last concentration of Boskonian forces.

But it seemed the Boskonians had not been wiped up completely. There was suspiciously few information about where the fugitives that had founded Catgirl Industries were coming from in 2015, but it seemed small parts of the Bad Guys had survived. He had to make sure to gather more information about this later.

But of course the spectres had no perfect score either. They even had got a few traitors in their own ranks.

It was always a problem of support and resources. Without someone supporting him, the chance to make a difference was slim. Equipment, squad mates, crew, a ship, everything depended on external sources. In Mass Effect 2 the player had even worked with some insane pro-human militants called Cerberus, who were one of the bad guys in the first Mass Effect game. But they were the only group that had supported the player. After doing that much for the council in part one it shouldn’t have been this way, but the council had been a bunch of Jerks... as always.

Mars was already a huge sphere visible through the front window and a speaker announced they would reach Helium within the next ten minutes. Shepard sighed and put away his tablet. He would have liked to read more about the countless of military operations during the war, but it was time to find out where to go next.

According to his information from the Moon, the space station of the Mass Effect catgirls where still near Mars. It should not be that difficult to find someone who would take him to the station.

----

Traveling through Helium was a bad idea. At least that was Shepard’s thought as he left Helium towards Marsbase Sara.

This was the future. It was spaceship, space stations... terraforming! What were these sword-and-sandal movie fans doing up here and why did they built a city on Mars? Being told that their fandom was older than any science fiction show he ever knew had not been a pleasant surprise. Who could have known that they were slowly beginning to prepare for the celebration of the 100th birthday of the first book?

To be fair, Helium had been a nice and friendly place, great for tourists who were just visiting. Lots of things to look at, but not that interesting for a potential Specter on his way to the first mission. They had given him some friendly advice, but he had been unable to learn where this space station was at the moment, just that it was not in orbit around Mars. He had quickly left after a few hours.

Marsbase Sara was a totally different kind of city. There were mechanical constructs and mechs everywhere, it had a smell of a place of production and engineering, not the sight of a tourist trap. Both Mecha pilots and cybered humans made a large part of the people in the subterrain base.

THIS was looking like something belonging to Mars. Robot... Mechs... even flying Mechs! This was a place of technology, they would know where to look for the catgirls.

It had taken a while to descent into the catacombs of the base, but then he had been able to find someone who worked for the space surveillance office here. A nice guy with a mechanical arm, sitting in a bar and enjoying a free day. A couple of beers later Shepard was sure he had found the right man.

“Jenga? The kitties? Yes, of course I know. Must be a funny place, lots of engineers and mads doing interesting things.”

“So you have been visited Jenga in the past” asked Shepard.

“Me? No... just heard stories about how their base started. The original gang of Catgirls have been living and working in Helium for a month or two in 2015, before they got enough money to start their space station. I think they had something to do with the Panzer Kunstlers. You know, the guys from Grunthal.”

Shepard had read a bit about these Panzer Kunstlers in the files about the Boskone wars. They had participated in a lot of dangerous operations, including the raid on Boskone Prime. Maybe he could ask them about the Catgirls if this was a dead end. But he didn’t believed it was, he was close to the second part of his first quest, he was sure about it. This man had the information he needed.

“But you can help me so that I can meet them?” he asked.

“Normally they don’t have many visitors I think, most people that want to hire them for some research work just call them over the Interwave. Shall I give you the number?” the man tried to help Shepard.

“No, its really important that I meet them directly. You have to understand, some things should not be done by phone. Do you think you can get me the coordinates where they are at the moment?” Shepard asked urgently.

The man sighed. “Okay, I will see what I can do. You know, maybe they are still in Mars orbit, if they are I can help you from here.”

The man took out a small computer from his pocket and a series of commands flashed on the screen. “Lets see... Jenga... no, they are not in orbit anymore. Left two days ago, most likely to the belt.”

“Do you think you can find out where they are at the moment.” Shepard asked nervously. “Its a space station, it cannot be that quick.”

The man thought about it for a moment and nodded. “Okay, okay... you seem to be a nice one, just wait here while I call a friend who is on duty at the moment. Maybe he can help us.”

Shepard shook the mans hand and thanked him again when he finally got the coordinates of his target. In his mind he could see the quest status log updating again. It shouldn’t be difficult to find another taxi here to bring him to the space station now.

----

“I am John Sheppard, System alliance. At this date, the 10 July 2016 I am taking command of this space station.”

A few catgirls looked over the the man in his armor that had arrived with a Taxi a few minutes ago and began to giggle. Another one did not seemed to be that amused, but unsure if these armed person was serious or not.

While Shepard still waited for someone important coming, hearing his case and finally agreeing to his decision, a door of the hangar opened and three other Catgirls entered the room.

‘These three have spacesuits with helmets... and they have a mean looking gun’ Shepard thought, feeling uncertain how to continue. ‘Where are the dialog boxes when you need them?’

Finally one of the giggling catgirls responded. “Isn’t he cute? I say we allow him into the kitchen and drink a hot coffee, he has earned it for this spontaneous stand-up comedy.”

The tension in the room vanished and most of the catgirls were grinning or nodding. Shepard just stared at them, he didn’t wanted to believe what happened.

He was a command approved soldier, he had played all three episodes through on all difficulty levels. He would become the first Spectre as soon as the Fen found the first real Mass Relay and got involved with the Citadel Council. How could his plan had failed?

----

In her private quarters Cathy was just closing the helmet on her suit and grabbed her Gyrojet pistol as Cortana hit her with another update.

“I think you can relax Cathy, it seems he is not willing to draw his assault rifle.” she heard the AI saying.

The 6 shot ammo clip clicked as she pushed it into her weapon. Cathy wasn’t willing to let it drop that easy.

“Are you sure Cortana? Three of us with an armored spacesuit is good, but two of them just have a waved Paintball-gun! Remind me we talk about some weapon detectors for incoming vehicles, I don’t want this to happen again.”

Maybe it was time to call her friends from Venus for a few more real weapons too. Security was not very useful when only the other guys were armed.

Cortana chuckled. “You should see him, he looks as some kid who just got told Christmas has been canceled. I have no clue what he was trying to do with this stunt, but he doesn’t seems to be openly hostile.”

“I am not sure Cortana... get him somewhere he can relax a bit and keep me informed, I will stay close. We don’t know the capabilities of his gun, until he is willing to give it away for the duration of his visit here, I am taking no chances. If he draws his weapon to impress someone or enhance his arguments, I will see how good his armor is against a gyrojet missile.”

----

Shepard was sitting in an armchair in a smaller room near the kitchen area. He had his hands around a large cup of coffee, trying to regain his courage. It still wasn’t over, he had a chance to succeed. If he only could get EDI’s daughter to join his cause, it might be possible to push this back on the track.

He had thought about using a renegade option and drawing his rifle, but believing he could succeed against a whole space station alone was insane. When one of the catgirls approached him a minute later and asked him to put down his weapon, he had agreed to it. It didn’t matter what what chance he had, he did not want to start a fight.

It was not the right thing to start a fight.

“Cortana, you have to help me. I am sure I am the best here for command duty, but they just don’t listen to me. I have trained so hard, I cannot just give up and walk away. Everyone would laugh about me.”

Cortana was close to telling him that this might happen anyways. But there were worse things than to be laughed about by a few Fen. Maybe this was something Shepard had still to learn.

Shepard was getting desperate, he was at a crossroad of the quest of his life, and he feared that he was close to failing it. “If you support me, I might still have the chance to get this right. I had so much work with this armor and the weapon, it would all be for nothing.”

Cortanas virtual avatar sighed. “John... maybe you should open your eyes and look around. Two years ago nothing of this existed. The working areas, the drones, the waved cars... the space station! We built all of this and it was a lot of work too. Ten years ago Fenspace did not exist at all. Not the stations around Earth, not the flying cities of Venus, not the thousands of outposts through the solar system and beyond. Do you think you are really the only one who had to work hard to get to this point?”

John Shepard just looked to the ground. He just felt like he would start to cry in a moment. Could it really be that he had fooled himself? That he had that much looked into his role in this game, that he had overlooked that he wasn’t the only player? Had he planned so much about his future quests that he had lost sight of something more important?

“Oh what a mess. I don’t know what to think, maybe you are right...” he finally pressed out, still managing to prevent himself from just breaking down. “Can... can you leave me alone for a moment, I really need some privacy? Just a few minutes please.”

Cortana nodded. “I will mark this room as busy, so that no one busts in. Take you time and call for me on the terminal beyond the door when you need something.”

She shut down the holo projector and moved away from the sensor systems of the room, just leaving a small expert system to make sure she was notified if Shepard tried something stupid.

----

A small crowd of Catgirls had gathered in one of the rooms besides the kitchen, just one door away from the room where Shepard was sitting. Everyone was curious what had happened since their new ‘guest’ had arrived.

“No, he will not try to take over the station anymore” Cortana explained once again as a new catgirl joined the crowd, asking about the status of the invasion.

Everyone was whispering since Cortana had declared that their guest needed some private time and threatened to throw out everyone if they became too loud.

“Did he really threatened to take over the station?”

“Is he just the scout of a whole group, checking up if we would resist?”

“If he wants my room, I will personally throw him out of the airlock!”

Cathy sighed and decided to leave the room, there was no use to calm down everyone. A moment later another catgirl would appear and everyone would start exchanging rumors again.

She finally arrived in her private room and dropped onto an armchair.

‘May you live in interesting times’ she thought, it seemed Catgirl Industries was a magnet for ‘interesting’ things happening. Sometimes it was tiring, on the other side life would be very boring without it. And Fenspace wasn’t about being bored.

“Cortana, what do you think... do we have a crisis or can we just lean back and watch the show?”

Cortanas holographic avatar materialized, looking thoughtful. “I would say we don’t have a crisis... but our visitor might have one. I am not really sure what is going on, maybe it was just too much computer games and handwavium during the last year, but I am sure he believed it was the right thing what he was doing. I tried to be gentle to open him a bit for the real situation, but he is still in shock.”

“Maybe he needs a little bit company?” Cathy asked, but Cortana shook her virtual head.

“No, I don’t think he want to see anyone for the next hour, he is not the kind of person for this. Give him some time, he will get out of this mess on his own, I am sure. He just will need a new plan how to continue from here, taking over Jenga hasn’t worked out that well for him.”

Cathy laughed. “No, it has not. But if he really want to continue to live his fantasy, I am pretty sure I know a few good friends who would take him with open arms.”

----

Sheppard was standing in the hangar, waiting for another taxi that would take him to the Space Patrol recruiting office back on the Moon. He had been such a fool, how could he had believed he might succeed with this mad plan? He was lucky the cats had not just spaced him!

Cathy was standing besides Shepard, the poor guy needed some company while waiting for his new transport. Shepard wasn’t a bad guy, just a little bit delusional. Maybe an effect of the Handwavium he had worked with on Earth, or even a quirk of a subtle biomod.

“Its okay John, no one is angry about you. Fenspace is full of people who did all kinds of crazy things, a lot of them much worse than you. Just take it with some humor, and you will get over it. And to state something obvious, you don’t go from ‘joining Fenspace’ to ‘becoming a spectre’ within a few days!” She smiled to him. “But before you leave the station I have just one last question for you.”

Shepard looked resigning at the catgirl. It had not been his best day, he was very happy that he would have been out of this disaster soon. What kind of question could she have in mind?

“I don’t think you are the type of Fen who just wants to command people around, you seem to be too nice for this. So why did you need a space station full of Mass Effect Fen? You could easily have started working here in Fenspace for a living, earning some money and then start building your own stuff.”

Shepard sighed, maybe it was time to tell someone about his dream that never would come true. “I have to admit there is a slightly selfish reason for it... I am not really the great engineer. And without a larger number of people and a reasonable resource base, who could built me my Normandy?”

----

The shuttle was gone and Cathy walked back towards the research area to meet some friends. It had been a really crazy evening. Not the only one this week, but a special one.

Beyond the door Vivio was waiting for her, still grinning about the things that had happened. “He is gone?”

Cathy nodded. “Yes, he is gone. I think he will follow Cortanas suggestion to join the Space Patrol, maybe it will help him to see if he is as good as he thinks doing this job. And maybe finding his place here in Fenspace. I have called a few friends I have to get in contact with him, if he is serious about it he will not have any trouble.”

“He seemed to be a nice guy, except for the fact that he planned to take over our home... but at least he had a good taste for computer games.” Vivio said. “Don’t you think too the Normandy from Mass Effect looks cool? I admit, the bridge was a little bit strange and the Maco was really crazy, but it felt like something really fast and stealthy... and nasty, if you try to hurt it!”

Cathy sighed. “Yes, it looks nice, but only because its larger on the inside than on the outside, a lot larger. And even with this enlargement, it was a damned submarine, not a space ship. Think about it, they didn’t even had a kitchen or a bathroom on the first Normandy. I like the SR-2 more, it was a ship that felt usable. More realistic... large enough!”

They were still talking when they arrived at the research area.

----

“So you want to join Space Patrol?” the person on the other side of the desk asked him, looking over Shepard, his armor and the weapon. “Looking for an exciting job with lots of shooting and adventures?”

Shepard just wanted to open his mouth, but then thought about it for a moment.

“No. I am here because I want to do the right thing, help making Fenspace a little bit better... but...” he replied, searching for the right words.

“But?”

“But there are so many things I don’t know. I need a place to learn, someone who can tell me where I am wrong and what would be a good way to correct it.” Shepard sighed. “I learned the hard way today that Fenspace is a little bit different what I expected. Luckily no one got hurt, but I don’t want to rely on luck alone next time.”

The other person nodded silently and smiled.

“Then welcome on board. Keep this attitude through the training, and we might have a job for you.”

FTL Neutrinos? http://io9.com/5843112/faster-than-ligh ... ot-so-fast]This guy gives a reason why he's skeptical, beyond "It cannot be done!"

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Okay, branching off the "Crossovers That Should Be" thread, here's the current seed of the fic idea:  (Copied from that thread)
You have a point. Not to mention, Washuu doesn't modify anyone else in
the house, and Ryoko was built from scratch, something she can't do
with Harry. (Although I imagine it might be an interesting option much
later in the plot. Perhaps Harry gets all-but-killed in a year 5 or so
encounter with Voldie or DEs, and rather than leave him paralyzed or in
a coma or something she moves him into a custom-built body. But rather
than becoming Superboy overnight, he has to learn how to use its
abilities and it takes him a long time just to get the simple
ones, like flight.)

I have my own problems with the ping-pong-ball Harry idea, where he
bounces back and forth between Dumbledore and Washuu -- I think after
the second exchange, Washuu's going to go after Harry with the entire
Tenchi cast as help -- especially if any of them have managed to
meet Harry. (In fact, I can see Sasami and Harry becoming
playmates -- depending on what physical/mental age you see Sasami at;
I've seen her pegged at anywhere between 8 and 12.) And I think there's
a little fun to be poked at all the fanfic Harries who show up at
Hogwarts speaking Japanese, wearing kimono and carrying katana; this
Harry may end of speaking Japanese (if he learned it honestly; I can
also see Washuu just injecting him with translator nanites or something
because it's faster, in which case he can talk to everything,
not just snakes), but he'll be as ignorant of Japanese culture as he is
of Wizarding -- though he might have a somewhat confused grounding in
Juraian culture...

Okay, boiling down this ramble, how's this for a basic concept?

Mihoshi does something Mihoshi-like, and connects Washuu's lab to
Harry's closet in a (for the purposes of the story) permanent and
undoable way, when Harry's 8 or 9 years old. It's not door-to-door,
otherwise the Dursleys would notice; it's more like the Wardrobe to
Narnia, in that the back wall simply goes away and Harry can keep
walking deeper and deeper in, until he's in the lab proper. Which he
does, visiting several times before Washuu notices him. Under the
crazy, we know Washuu's a big softy for kids, so while she calls him a
minion and keeps him hopping, she's also treating him well and healing
what needs healing. etc. She injects him with translator nanites right
from the start (for much fun later on, when he's at Hogwarts and finds
he can talk to snakes, centaurs, merfolk, house-elves... practically
anything that has its own language), and while she doesn't actually
teach him a lot of really powerful stuff, she finds he's a
polite, attentive and quiet child and talks to him about what
she's doing, from which he picks up a mixed bag of information, though
little in the way of actual skills. (Said information will make him
seem almost as odd as Luna, once he gets to Hogwarts...) The first time
he shows up bruised and battered from Dudley, she gives him a personal
force field unit.

The rest of the house discovers him when Ayeka comes in one afternoon
to inform Washuu that dinner's ready, finds the two of them together,
and Washuu drags Harry to the meal when she learns he was sent to his
closet without dinner. As a result he ends up with a playmate in Sasami
and a big sister in Ryoko, and a stuffy but kinda nice spinster aunt in
Ayeka. And Mihoshi thinks he's the cutest thing since Hello Kitty. Oh,
and a kinda confused big brother in Tenchi. And he loves the temple.
And he learns a little kenjutsu from Tenchi and Grandpa. And of course
Sasami and Harry cook together, which is the first time he does it for
fun and people who appreciate it. All in all, getting sent to his
closet is actually a pleasant refuge for him, and the only problems he
has are a growing lack of sleep (because of the time difference between
England and Japan), and not letting the Dursleys know.

And when he starts doing accidental magic, well, he goes right to
Washuu and tells her about it, because hey, he can do stuff like all
the girls can. Why is that, Washuu-oba-chan? "Well, Harry, if you'll
just stand here, and hold these two electrodes in your hands, and this
third one in your mouth, we'll see what I can find out."

And when he gets back from the shopping trip with Hagrid, he
immediately goes to Washuu's lab to tell her about the letter and
Hogwarts. Which results in him going to school with a few "gifts" from
the household, a couple of cloaked sensor drones. and anything else we
can think of that's fun but not overpowering.

Oh, and a door to the Lab materializes somewhere in the Castle...

And from there? Well, we can figure that out next.

As http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=83443]this thread on the SJGames forums points out, there are literally dozens of settlements named Bristol, Canton, Springfield, or Wellington (and over a dozen named Birmingham).

Where are they in Fenspace?

I'm tempted to grab Bristol for a Sammie base, but I don't know where to put it. There doesn't seem to be an asteroid named "Bristol"...

Edit: A-ha! Takeuchi Shipyard is in Mare Marginis, but we never named the settlement that supports the shipyard. "Bristol" it is. (Not that there can't be other "Bristol"s in Fenspace, of course.)

Re-Edit: Rather than adding each name to the list, I'll just point at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... lace_names]Wikipedia's collection of place-name disambiguation pages. My, but there's a lot of them...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Zwill has confirmed that they're in the process of switching inactive accounts to the premium model, so if you're inactive, it might not hurt to go check.

It's that time again!  No, it's not time to spin the Wheel of Morality (TM), it's time to select panelists for the Anime Central 2012 Fanfiction Panel!

What's that, you say?  It's entirely too early to be recruiting panelists?  Well, the new window for submitting panels is October 1-31, no exceptions.

Anime Central (www.acen.org) will take place on April 27-29 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont, Illinois.  If you're going to be attending Acen and you're interested in being on the panel, please send the following information:

1.  Your name or preferred handle.

2.  Your real name, if different.  By that I mean full, real name, including first and last names for the panel review board.

3.  A list of your preferred works, including any you may have written in the past year.

4.  The URL of your website, if any, or where your works can be found.

5.  If you've been on a fanfic panel before, and if so, where.

6.  (OPTIONAL) Why you'd like to be on the panel.

Please private mail me at pmui1@NOSPAMPLEASE.prodigy.net by September 30 if you're interested.  The panel will be selected shortly after that.

(I'm sure you know what to remove--it's in capitals.) 

Hope to hear from you soon!

--Pearson "Doc" Mui

I thought I try my hand on this. :p

Quote:=== Germany ===
''Neutral-to-Friendly, mixed''
The relations of the German government with Fenspace is best described as being pragmatic. With several smaller groups in Fenspace having closer ties to their homeland then others, combined with a relatively good initial press for Fenspace, the Government tends to largely ignore what is going on in Fenspace ever since signing the Kandor Treaty and taking their sweet time to make new laws.
While access to Handwavium is restricted to the Max Plank Institute for Exotic Materials and the Bundesnachrichtendienst, 'waved items only need a license to own. In most cases this license is easily obtained, safe for items that may be used as weapon.
With a small space port in the Ruhr Area Germany can be easily accessed from Fenspace, through fen are advised to get the correct permissions for a landing and a reasonable flight plan before trying to land there. Generally it is only needed to file the request two days before the targeted date with the German Air Control.
One reason for the more pragmatic approach of Germany to Fenspace is a good going export of German goods into Febspace, as Germany generally keeps good relations with trade partners.
Main export articles are beer, various machinery, beer, tools, various alcohols (including beer) and beer.

Because planning for Maico's scoop chase, Frigga's OpFor spacecraft fleet needed to be rounded out. And I noticed there was only one waved helicopter on the Wiki.... so thought this'd be cool. And tried to get a distinctive feel as something Jet and Ford have built rather than anyone else.

Quote:The first spacecraft wholly built on 77 Frigga, the Gr-02 Havoc is unusual in that it is based off of a helicopter frame. It originated partly as a Friday project of Jet Jaguar’s, with the original intent being to save money over buying fully-capable combat craft for Frigga’s OpFor. Outright speed and combat range weren’t an issue when it was launching off the asteroid it was designed to attack.

The Gr-02 began with the Gr-01 testbed, a waved Mi-24 picked up cheap from somewhere in Ukraine where it had been left sitting in a field slowly decaying for about 35 years. It was still mildly radioactive when it arrived. The testbed was successful, if slow, but was much harder to control than the average Fencraft. Nevertheless it proved itself rugged enough to handle tough test flights, despite the tendency to phosphoresce in low-light conditions. Compared to background solar radiation, it’s negligible.

The Havoc built on the Gr-01, using a rotating, variable drive field to power it through space with the rotors themselves being essentially a massively upscaled variant of the lifting drives on a motoroid. This arrangement gives the spacecraft an almost unparalleled maneuverability at the expense of outright speed and range. A secondary tail rotor generating a second drive field counteracts the torque the rotary field generates, and keeps the Havoc from spinning like a top as it flies. The Havoc flies and maneuvers by varying the strength and direction of both drive fields, at the command of the pilot.

The Havoc is designed with ruggedness and ease of maintenance and repair in mind. The cockpit and main systems are armoured, with the cockpit windows being made from laminated transparent carbon. Most main systems have some form of onboard redundancy, or the ability to fail gracefully and tolerate damage. Outside the bought-in weapon controls and radar, the Havoc lacks complex computers. There is no onboard AI assistance, just a basic course-following auto-pilot. Switchgear and controls are heavy but positive in action. Instruments are a mix of analogue gauges and glass-cockpit displays where needed. No touchscreens are fitted.

The Havocs have the ability to mount some heavy anti-shipping missiles, and are capable of engaging other light attack spacecraft with a chin-mounted autocannon. In general, the Havocs only mount simulated weaponry for OpFor operations, but in a pinch can be reloaded with live munitions. Each one is fitted with a grab handle on the landing struts, allowing it to be transported by the Dragon Wagon II as a parasite.

The Havoc takes it’s name from the NATO reporting name for the Mi-28, which it was deliberately designed to mimic the external appearance of. Like it’s parent, it takes up to two crew, a pilot and a gunner/navigator. It can be flown singularly, provided the pilot can handle the workload.

The Havocs have been described as being something of precision-machined battleaxes.

Currently, there are two, both Frigga-built. Jet is trying to hire a flight crew for them, and find somewhere that'll put together another pair of them for a reasonable price because it takes ages using the 'basic' tooling on Frigga.

---Attributes.

“Fly like a Dragonfly” The Havocs are amazing maneuverable, even for a fencraft. They can spin on a pinhead, translate along any axis at near full speed, and generally pull off some spectacular aerobatics in the hand of a skilled pilot.

“Sting like a Hornet“ Havocs can mount a heavy armament for something their size. Guided missiles, rockets, guns are all available.

“Take a punch like a brick wall” Havocs are tough, capable of shrugging off hits that would knock out similar-sized spacecraft.

--

Havocs are short-legged. The huge power-sapping distortions put out by the rotor make for an inefficient drive, making it difficult to get them up to any sort of speed while simultaneously guzzling fuel. They have trouble breaking .065C, or going beyond 2 AU. Although hyper-maneuverable, they’re generally too slow to be much use in a dogfight.

Havocs tend to whip up debris as it gets caught in the field wash coming off the rotors, picking it up and flinging it around before it drops out. They also disrupt the drive fields of any fencraft getting close(10-20meters), especially those above and below the craft, and craft that are similar sized. It tends to repel both spacecraft from each other.... not hard enough to stop a determined collision, but enough to make formation flying a fine art.

These things are not easy to fly. They require a pilot with skill, experience, coordination, and excellent spatial awareness.

Anika Daini goes along with Ford Sierra on a Bounty Hunting run, about the new ship Dragon Wagon II....

Set in 2021/2.... technically Infinities, but I've got to do something with Frigga and the Sabers.

First part.... rough cut. Comments, suggestions, flames?

Quote:Friday’s on 77 Frigga were a day of rest, a chance for people to relax and pursue their own interests after a week’s work. Well, for everyone else.

Anika sighed to herself, and got back to tapping away at the keyboard.

Somebody had to keep the rock running. She cycled through the monitors, CRT’s flickering in her vision. Jet was at her daily practice down in the gym, while singing something about ‘down in Frigga rock’.. Daryl was alternating between doting on the Aeritalia F104 in the hangar bay, and kicking the Italian jet to death. Kotono was busy rounding up stray exocomps for her own infernal purposes.

And she herself was there, alone in the darkened control room. Monitors projected their data across her face in a harsh mixture of greens, yellows, reds and blues. Keyboards and switchgear were backlit a electric green.

It was all very techno.

Most of it was barely ticking over at idle. TITANIC wasn’t doing much if anything, while she was busy with exercises from the underspace. Anika didn’t know whether she was actually tired, or just bored.

Staring at the screen.

She downed a slug of cold water, allowing herself to cool off for a few seconds. These were tough. Test the system, find the vulnerability. How do you get access here? Defend yourself. Sneak through the barrier. Use a hardware lock. Write a script to automate....

She sighed again.

It had sounded like a good idea at the time. Nobody had told her how much work it would actually be. She finished up and fired it off to be checked and graded, and then to be told what she’d done wrong. And do the same over again.

Well, she agreed to it. She asked to do it... to be the hacker AI elite on Frigga. It was her own fault. This was her choice. She had to learn how to do her job.

The system chirruped as a message came back. Gina’d finished grading her work worryingly quick. She could feel herself heating up, her mind racing with the anticipation as she opened the mail.

“Hi, Anika.

You’ve improved a great deal the last six months. Are you sure you’re Beta level? Three blue marks on your self defence, but it is still good enough for a pass. Kick Jet in the arse to get you a proper interface for yourself and you’d be dangerous. Full details attached. A little more practice without that hardsuit wouldn’t hurt either.


--

Anika slouched down in her chair, relieved. There was no elation... no pride... just relief that her exercises were over for the day. She’d look through the report form later, after sending a quick ‘thank you’ in return. There was a lemon meringue in the fridge.... she’d treat herself to that. Nice and sweet and cold and satisfying with a wonderful tang.

TITANIC beeped to itself as it pushed an update out to all the systems incorporated inside it. She checked it up in the logs. A networking update, nothing special. It did that once a day. Push an update, analyse it’s performance and compare with the previous, make some automatic edits driven by an expert system, update again and compare. Automated evolution according to some coded factors..

Some indicators started to chirp to themselves as parts of the system ramped up to full load for a few minutes, testing the stability of the update. Some exocomps were busying themselves on general maintenance, while another two had disappeared off down the mines again. Just a navigation glitch. They’d be back whenever they finished whatever mysterious rituals the things got up to down there..

They just ran around for a few hours in the dark parts doing nothing, then popped up and got back to work as if nothing had happened.

Maybe they just needed a break occasionally. She sure as hell did.

The next exercise arrived from the underspace a few moments later. Good luck! It was followed by a quick news article about a liquid-helium overclocking of a quantum processor. She blew out a sigh of hot air.

If only...

And worse, her meringue had been mysteriously been finished in the meantime. Only crumbs and sugary cream remained.

Dare she lick?

Well... she was alone in there. And it was so sweet and tasty.

The door squeaked as it opened, throwing bright flourescent light across the room. Her eyes adjusted in an instant, a dark silhouette coalescing into the familiar form of Ford Sierra. Who looked completely un-shocked by the sight of a golden-haired computer operator lapping cream of a plate.

“There’s some on your nose,” Ford said, matter-of-factly.

Anika slurped it off with her tongue, the set the plate beside the keyboard. “Thanks,” she said, feeling her cheeks warm up.

“I was expecting a message, but I think it got caught in the spam filter again. Could you fish it out?”

It took Anika a few clicks to release the post. The console chirped, as it always did. It was a quirk. It had to beep and chirp and cheep to let you know it was doing something, and it refused to let you turn it off.

“Done,”

“Thanks.”

Ford leant into the monitor at the other end of the console.... zooming in. Rivers of electric light reflected off the metal on her arm, while lines of green text scrolled across her face. Anika had no trouble reading it, despite her not really wanting to.

It was bounty hunter stuff. Ford’s smile deepened into a lupine smirk as she spotted her prey among the file. Anika could see a pair of projected photographs, and a twinkle in Ford’s eye.

Ford pushed a bright button on the panel, the turned red under her finger.

“Hey Jet. I just got a really hot lead on a nice bounty nearby - a pair of dickheads using a stolen Blackbird to knock over transports. I’m taking the new wagon; it might take a couple of days,”

Why did that sound like an offer to Anika’s ears? She began to imagine herself free of this cyberpunk pit.

“Uhh...sorry,” the comm panel answered in Jet’s voice, “I’m needed on Mars tomorrow. Planning that demonstration for Saracon. Got to make sure we don’t accidentally kill each other. ”

“Shit,” Ford breathed.

A beat.

“Can I come along?” she said.

Ford blinked, and seemed to stare at her.... momentarily stunned. “Uh...” The mechanic’s mind seemed to be in spinlock “This isn’t a Knight Saber mission,” Ford told her after a few minutes, “You won’t have your hardsuit. I don’t really know what you can do,”

“It’s boring as hell in here. I just want to get out for a few days,” She sounded almost like she was pleading for rescue. “And Gina told me I need more practical experience without the suit anyway.”

Ford seemed to be thinking it over. Way too slow. These humans took far too long.

“Alright,” she shurgged her shoulder. “Meet me on the Wagon in a half-hour. If you’re not there, I’m leaving without you,”

The next thing Ford knew, she was being hugged by an andro id rapidly squeeing “ThankyouThankyouThankyou...”

“Stop!” Ford barked, shoving her off.

Anika stumbled, and blushed a bright pink. “Sorry... I’m just excited,”

And riding high up on a sugar rush.

“Well try do your best to get there on time,”

----

Anika scrounged around in the armoury for something that could fit. Body armour, helmet... a big assault rifle that felt huge in her hands, and a pistol that seemed oddly harmless. She lugged it all down to the landing bay, along with a backpack full of dessert mixes, and about a weeks worth of clothes.

She lugged it all with the help of a pair of exocomps who she could swear were looking at her funny. She was forced to go past some of the workshop areas in the lower bay, beside what used to be the worker’s canteen. A pair of windows allowed her to see what was inside.

The half-finished shell of an Mi24 helicopter sat alongside the powertrain from one of it’s deceased counterparts and a brand new bare-metal spaceframe that was supposed to be becoming something real special. A pair of hurricane engines were still in shipping crates from Atalante waiting. A desert-camo Su-22 jet fighter airframe that’d already been imaginatively christened ‘Fitter K’ watched over it’s rotor-wing comrades. Along with the Dragon Wagon, they were going to make up a nice unique fleet for attack and defense training scenarios

... whenever they were finished.

They’d been there longer than she had.

Daryl’s Starfighter lived down there too. A brilliant, silver-metal machine that looked like a high speed dart capable of punching a hole straight through the universe itself. She could hear the pair arguing from inside.

“Look, I just need another two,”

Kotono was pleading.

“Well I’m, using ‘em!” Daryl was annoyed. She always had an odd harshness to her voice that Anika just didn’t like.

“For what?”

“Stuff!”

The pair emerged, Daryl in greased overalls with her blond hair dirtied by engine oil. Kotono’s jet black hair matched the oily palmprint on an otherwise pristine white blouse. The pair looked at her, emerald and hazel eyes taking long moments

“What are you doing with all that?” they chorused

Anika did her best to inflate her body. “I’m going Bounty Hunting,” she declared

The two women shared another momentary glance.

Then starting laughing. It was deep, racause laughter that seemed to ring against the walls, and mock from all sides at once. Kotono had her hand over her mouth, while Daryl was doubled over like she was trying to laugh her guts up.

“I am!” Anika shrieked, feeling herself beginning to heat up. “I’m going with Ford,”

Daryl slapped a heavy hand into her back, before drawing her close and tight. Anika struggled weakly for a moment before giving up. “Little Miss Cyberpunk, a bounty hunter. What do you think Kotono?”

“It think she’s just making a run to pick up a fridge full of Bountys.”

Anika wore an angry pout for a few moments, shoving Daryl off her. She was stronger than she looked. Time to bring out the big guns.

“Quit ganging up on me,” Anika whined, giving them the teary-eyes.

The pair grinned in unison, big, toothy grins that were a mockery of friendship, “It’s what we do!”

“Boing!” Kotono added.

Anika sighed and dropped her shoulders. She’d just have to rig the exocomps to dump a load of old gear in their quarters, or trip the fire suppression systems. Or itching powder in the innerwear. It wasn’t just a one-way street.

She brushed passed the pair of them.

“Hey.... are you going to be using those two exo’s?” Kotono called after her.

She spun on her heel and stuck out her tongue at them. “Nyaaa!”

Feeling mature she strode confidently forward towards the freight lift that would take her down to the main landing bay. Echoes of laughter chased after her, and she ran into the lift cage, nearly outrunning to two exocomps.

The blocky machines hovered in front of her. Marker lights stared.

“Oh shut up!”

She slammed the safety gate shut, flaking off more decade old yellow paint, before switching the level selector over to the main bay. Electric motors howled as the lift began to dive, dry cold air rushing by.

Anika was starting to get sick with excitement.

-----

The Dragon Wagon II hung from the BIG BEA crane, fresh green paint gleaming in the overhead lights. The new ship seemed to bring a whole breath of fresh air to the vast cavern.... even if it didn’t even come near close to filling it. The bay made a big ship look small.

But it did still fit in a way.

For big engine nacelles mounted in a cruciform layout pushed a sleek body that reminded her of an ancient spear. Grappler arms folded snug against the cargo bays. It was still less than a week old. It was sleeping and cold, waiting to be brought to life once again.

“Wow,” she breathed.

Like most BAT-tech, it looked like it was blasting through the limit standing still. A ladder led up to the crane, which led down to the ship. Being a machine had its advantages she mused. She didn’t get tired on the climb, while the two exo’s didn’t seem to mind much either. They just hummed dutifully along all the way up.

Ford was waiting on the control deck, a dizzying height up. Most of the equipment had been stripped, the windows were gone and the skeletons of control consoles were beginning to rust in places, but the important equipment was still there, wired up to be remote controlled from the ship below.

“Oh, you made it,” Ford said, with mild surprise. She was still focused on the console, punching old switches.

“Of course I did,” Anika beamed, feeling a giddy rush rise up inside her and envelope her body.

This was going to be fun.

Ford glanced up at her, opening her mouth to say something, before finally comprehending just what she was seeing.

“Why are you bringing all that crap?” she asked, mildly.

“I thought we were supposed to bring weapons and stuff,” Anika defended. It was logical. It fit what she’d read on the web.

Ford’s eyes narrowed. “We’re not assaulting a Boskone base single-handed.”

It still startled Anika to hear the word ‘Boskone.’ It was a dark word that lurked in the shadows of the past, which threatened to jump out at the unwary and snatch them back into the black. She pondered on Ford and Jet having been there for the Boskone War.... and how nine years seemed to be an impossible length of time for someone who was less than three years old.

It was ancient history.

“Well” She glanced out a missing window frame, leaning against the metal for a moment. The ladder down was long, the lift ride up was longer.... “I could bring it back,”

“No time,” Ford said. “Just stick the gear aboard in whatever cabin you want for yourself. Y’never know. might come in handy.”

Anika practically bounded down the boarding steps like a flame-haired kangaroo, the frame of the stairway buckling a little under each successive impact. It really didn’t occur to her that a fall from that height wouldn’t have been healthy.

Aboard the ship was... well it didn’t really feel like a spaceship to her. The KnightWing was so cramped for three women, a cyber, a puppet and an android. Flint’s own craft had been a waved Hilux.... so this thing felt huge inside. It felt clean and fresh and new with that strange fruity scent still in the air. The paint on the main passageways was still fresh and clean and glossy. It seemed to be begging her not to touch and mar the gloss.

She picked cabin 5. It was her lucky number. The cabin inside was the same size as the KnightWing’s living compartment, with an individual bed, some storage space underneath it, a one-piece lightweight workdesk and chair set and an elegant shower/WC combo. She set up her terminal system on the desk, before slinging some of her stuffed animals onto the bed, and stuffing the battle gear under it. Next, she slung herself onto the fresh bedding.

These sheets had never even been slept in. Clean, crisp and as comfortable as her own quarters. A laminated card told her that this particular ship had been specifically fitted with a luxury cabin.

A knock on the door shocked her back into the real world.

“Don’t go asleep,” Ford said, with a smile on her face “We’re departing in five minutes,”

“It’s my first time on a new ship,” she admitted, a little ashamed.

“Don’t worry,” the bounty hunter reassured, “It was my first time a week ago picking her up. I’ll see you on the bridge.”

She waited for a minute or so after Ford had dissapeared, before leaving herself and stashing her desserts in the fridge in the galley. It was cleaner than her own kitchen. And better equipped. Something about that was deeply annoying, and she couldn’t pinpoint what exactly.

Oh well.

She made her way up forward to the bridge, feeling a momentary buzz through her body as the gravity fields switched over. Power conduits began to thrum. The lights flickered just once as power systems switched over to internal. The ship was waking up.

The bridge door slid open, revealing something wildly different from what she was used to. Flat-panel displays, holographic projections... it was so much cleaner the control room on Frigga. It was sleek.

Ford was busy in the forward pilot’s seat, prodding at the controls, brushing her fingers across glass screens.

“Take the second seat,” she ordered. “There’s an interface for you there if you need it.”

She slipped into a faux-leather G-recliner. Her panels came online immediately, showing engine and comm’s status at a glance.

“This is awesome,” she whimpered.

“Yeah, well it’s about to get awesomer.”

The engines throttled up with a high cold wail ringing through the frame. Anika could feel herself shaking as she glanced out at the rock walls. Far ahead, the main door seemed to be slowly giving way to black as it hinged up and in towards the ceiling. An outside counterweight allowed it to be driven by lightweight motors.

The ship shook as the mooring clamps came undone.

“And we are outta here,”

Ford punched the throttles, and the walls went backwards at a terrifying rate, giving way to a vast open blackness that seemed to thump her in the chest. The immediacy of the transition was stunning. It left her standing agape, unable to breath for a few moments.

“Wow,”

Ford glanced back at her, “You never did that before?”

“My station’s in the back part of the cockpit on the ‘Wing. There’re no windows back there,”

“You could’ve asked to come up-front, nobody would’ve said no,”

Anika pondered on that for a few moments. Then pondered how she was probably just going to be a passenger for the trip. Then turned her thoughts back to the word ‘Boskone’....

What was it like?

She glanced at Ford, banking the Dragon Wagon over onto a new course.

“Hey Anika, make yourself useful. Contact GreenHaven and rserve a docking bay for us. We’ll be there inside four hours.”

“Aye-aye!” she beamed.

-----TBC>>

August 18th, 2011

The Toy Box stood in the center of the rather small worn concrete field that was the brand new ‘Raumhafen Rhein-Ruhr’ in Essen as the only fencraft serviced. Well, it was more of a landing field added to the small local airport.

It had caused quite some political fallout then the red-green government of NRW had managed to get it through the Landtag, the opposition not very keen on the prospect of a space port in NRW. ‘What if there is a handwavium spill?’ was one of the harmless questions.

Right now Naedial could see some protesters outside the small space port. Most likely the brown idiots who lived in the past...

"Be careful with that," she then yelled at the driver of a container truck as he tried to maneuver his machine under the open loading bay of the Toy Box, trying to ignore the firetruck that stood not far away to handle any possible 'wavium spill.
Hadn't the search of the ship been enough?

The driver glared at her for a moment, but did not respond, through Naedial was sure that it may have been not very friendly.

She winced as he narrowly avoided the back of the bay and then sighed as he stopped. There was a multi-million Astra satellite in there. She watched Danni hop down from the top of the loading bay, preparing to attach the container to the ceiling of the bay, while the driver detached it from his truck.

She sighed and shook her head. They had only wanted to pick up some machinery for their new ship, but Astra had heard about it and managed to get them to pick up the satellite for a hefty amount of cash. Enough to pay both the lathe and the high end 3D printer.

"Hey, Nae," she heard Terris call out behind her." Did we order these guys?"

She blinked a few times before turning around and face five young people who stared at her, carrying bags under their arms. She blinked again before she remembered.

"Oh our new apprentices..." she made and chuckled.

It was a new little test. When the Board of Whistler Orbital Services, meaning the crew of the Toy Box, had decided to build themselves a second much larger ship, Project Henry Whistler, they had realized that they needed some people to crew the ship. And people who could work in space.

So this little idea had been born. They would look for some people with good schooling, mostly math, physics and English, who had already been trained in technical jobs, like mechanics or electronics.

After posting a few ads into a few German newspapers, saying that they were looking for people who wanted to do an apprenticeship to become an Orbital Service Technician, there had been a large echo and several ten thousand of emails.

Thankfully SENECA had sieved through the mails, managing to catch a couple of thousand mails that were obviously fake or just fun, while others were just not qualified. Either bad marks or bad social skills. It had been good to ask for a criminal record and their favorite fandom.

So here they were, five young people between 19 and 25 years, three guys and two girls.

"That redshirt is a bit overkill," she noted at a lanky maybe 20 year old. "We’re not Trekkies. They are at Mars."

The guy in question blushed, while it managed to loosen up the others and get them away from staring at her. It made her uncomfortable. Bad enough that she was easily one of the most visually strangest biomod in cis-lunar space.

"I’m Naedial Warringer," she said and stepped up to them. "I’m the one who has to play boss for this bunch of fen. But you can call me Nae. This is Terris, our astro monkey."

"Oi," Terris made." I resent that remark."

"Hey, you are the trained astronaut in the crew."

The little barter between the two managed to loosen them up a little more and made them chuckle.

"Better loose that tension. Its not good for us up there. May get us all into problems."

That tensed them up again and Naedial shook her head, before waving her hand into the general direction of the Box.

"Come on, we get to the introduction in the Box. That way you don’t have to repeat yourselves."

The five nodded and grabbed their bags, following them towards the space ship.

"How do you get that into space?" a muscular guy next to the redshirt asked, making Naedial chuckle.

"Like this," she said and waved her hand.

"You... ‘waved it," the redshirt said, fumbling a little with the unfamiliar word.

"Pretty much," Naedial noted and looked over towards the truck.

The container was now hanging in the loading bay of the Box, cables pulling it up, while the truck driver gave them another dirty look before climbing into his semi.

Reaching the main air lock, she poked her head through it, before the rest of her body followed. It was a tad strange to get into the ship under full gravity when you were used to it being in mirco-gravity.

"Fee, call everyone up into the kitchen," she called out." We got our newbies."

------------------------------------------------------
AN: I hope there is no problem with German being a liberal enough in 2011 to allow a small space port.